March 14, 2009

Low-Stress Test Taking

This is the time of year, in Texas, that kids from 3rd grade on take what are called TAKS tests. (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) There's so much preparation and talk about it that for many kids, anxiety starts building a month or so before it's even time for the tests. When my son was in fourth grade he had his first writing TAKS test. It started at around 8am and students could take as long as needed to finish. At 2pm my son's teacher called me to say that my son was still working on his test and wanted to take more time to finish. School ends at 2:30 and he could stay as long as needed. He and one other child were the only 2 kids left in the school still working. At 3pm I went to the school and thought certainly he must be done by now. He was still in the testing room, so I asked if I could poke my head in and just give him a smile or word of encouragement. There are very strict rules around the test and I was told that I couldn't. Finally, after another 1/2 hour of waiting I told the teacher to tell him to hand in whatever he had done. This was just too much for a 9 year old. He had been taking that test for over 7 hours. That's far more time than it takes for college entrance exams! She calmly told me that he had gotten a few breaks during the day to get a drink and go to the bathroom. Did she really think that it was reasonable for a 9 year old child?

Finally, he came out of the testing room, sobbing. He had not written one word all day. He had 4 fully developed stories in his head, but because of the way the writing prompt was worded, he was sure his stories were all wrong. The prompt was "Write a NONFICTION story about something that has happened in your life." He asked the teacher questions regarding the prompt, but the rules
around the testing say the teacher can only repeat the prompt. Some
help that is. At 9 years old, a child thinks of Benjamin Franklin or Martin Luther King when they think of a nonfiction story. Even though he was thinking of stories that really happened in his life, every time he thought about interesting ways to describe it, he was sure that it was fictional and he just couldn't put it down on the paper. Boys tend to think of life as one big action adventure anyway, so I'm sure he was struggling with how anything in his life could possibly be considered nonfiction.

I knew he could do it and I was angry that the pressure had kept him from doing his best. Out of sheer frustration over that day, I came up with a new test-taking strategy for him.

The next time he had to take the writing TAKS test, I told him "Go in there and write the worst paper you've ever written. Just put down your first idea on paper, check back over it once and hand it in." Several times I reminded him that the goal was just to finish. It didn't matter if it was any good or not. Just finish. Every single time since then, he has finished in about 2 hours, and gotten a commended score on this test. A commended score means he not only got an acceptable rating, but was well above the average student scores.

Our kids are smart but all with all the thoughts bombarding the AD/HD brain they just need something that will help them prioritize and process the information. Sometimes all a child needs is to have the pressure taken off. Making the goal "to finish" seemed to allow for all the other stuff to fall into place.

Comments

Low-Stress Test Taking

This is the time of year, in Texas, that kids from 3rd grade on take what are called TAKS tests. (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) There's so much preparation and talk about it that for many kids, anxiety starts building a month or so before it's even time for the tests. When my son was in fourth grade he had his first writing TAKS test. It started at around 8am and students could take as long as needed to finish. At 2pm my son's teacher called me to say that my son was still working on his test and wanted to take more time to finish. School ends at 2:30 and he could stay as long as needed. He and one other child were the only 2 kids left in the school still working. At 3pm I went to the school and thought certainly he must be done by now. He was still in the testing room, so I asked if I could poke my head in and just give him a smile or word of encouragement. There are very strict rules around the test and I was told that I couldn't. Finally, after another 1/2 hour of waiting I told the teacher to tell him to hand in whatever he had done. This was just too much for a 9 year old. He had been taking that test for over 7 hours. That's far more time than it takes for college entrance exams! She calmly told me that he had gotten a few breaks during the day to get a drink and go to the bathroom. Did she really think that it was reasonable for a 9 year old child?

Finally, he came out of the testing room, sobbing. He had not written one word all day. He had 4 fully developed stories in his head, but because of the way the writing prompt was worded, he was sure his stories were all wrong. The prompt was "Write a NONFICTION story about something that has happened in your life." He asked the teacher questions regarding the prompt, but the rules
around the testing say the teacher can only repeat the prompt. Some
help that is. At 9 years old, a child thinks of Benjamin Franklin or Martin Luther King when they think of a nonfiction story. Even though he was thinking of stories that really happened in his life, every time he thought about interesting ways to describe it, he was sure that it was fictional and he just couldn't put it down on the paper. Boys tend to think of life as one big action adventure anyway, so I'm sure he was struggling with how anything in his life could possibly be considered nonfiction.

I knew he could do it and I was angry that the pressure had kept him from doing his best. Out of sheer frustration over that day, I came up with a new test-taking strategy for him.

The next time he had to take the writing TAKS test, I told him "Go in there and write the worst paper you've ever written. Just put down your first idea on paper, check back over it once and hand it in." Several times I reminded him that the goal was just to finish. It didn't matter if it was any good or not. Just finish. Every single time since then, he has finished in about 2 hours, and gotten a commended score on this test. A commended score means he not only got an acceptable rating, but was well above the average student scores.

Our kids are smart but all with all the thoughts bombarding the AD/HD brain they just need something that will help them prioritize and process the information. Sometimes all a child needs is to have the pressure taken off. Making the goal "to finish" seemed to allow for all the other stuff to fall into place.